Brief Summary
The video reviews the Digimon Adventure reboot, "Digimon Adventure:," discussing its strengths and weaknesses. While the show had a promising start with high production value and exciting music, it made some controversial decisions early on. The series shifted its tone halfway through, becoming more relaxed and fun, with great individual episodes. The video explores why the show failed to build an exciting overarching story despite an intriguing setup and highlights the individual episodes that make it worth watching.
- The reboot borrows heavily from Digimon Frontier.
- The show prioritizes individual episodes over an overarching story.
- The digital world is less interesting compared to the original series.
- The show features cool and savage Digimon designs and physicality.
Intro
The Digimon Adventure reboot, officially titled "Digimon Adventure:," has concluded, and the speaker reflects on its run. The speaker was initially surprised by the reboot announcement, considering the sequel series and movie that followed the original Digimon Adventure. The speaker notes that the show made bold decisions early on, such as incorporating elements from the sequel movie "Our War Game" in the first few episodes, which set a high-stakes tone from the beginning.
Overarching Plot
The overarching plot of the show borrows heavily from Digimon Frontier, with the original cast members' younger siblings being brought to the digital world and tasked with uniting the chosen children to stop an ancient evil. Simultaneously, power outages and errors occur in the human world, connected to the events in the digital world. The series introduces the main characters one at a time, showcasing their personalities and Digimon partners. However, the show quickly becomes formulaic, separating the group and immediately introducing ultimate evolutions, which hinders character development and group rapport.
Digital World
The digital world in the reboot is less interesting compared to the original series, lacking the charming and sporadic set pieces. While later episodes show the kids finding food, survival is not a significant challenge, with the main concern being avoiding getting eaten by other Digimon. Many Digimon compete and consume each other to gain power, which becomes an overarching theme. It is revealed that digital anomalies in the real world are caused by villains consuming power from the real world.
First Half
The first half of the show places too much emphasis on Tai, sidelining the other characters for extended periods. During the Devi-mon arc, the group is split, with some characters sent to the real world without their Digimon. The real-world arc is not particularly interesting, and the objective within the network is stretched out, causing the purpose to be forgotten. The first 33 episodes are a non-stop rush of fights, with the plot progressing slowly.
Creative Shift
Around episode 30, there is a major creative shift in the show's tone, especially after a holiday hiatus. Commandomon joins the team, and Hikari is brought to the digital world. The characters learn about an ancient war and the weapon used by the darkness, Millenniumon. The show finally focuses on the ensemble characters, but they rarely disagree with each other, resulting in shallower character development.
Story Flow
The story motivation for the characters is simply walking or going somewhere, with events happening along the journey. The Devi-mon arc is stretched out, and the heroes are often unaware of the villains' actions. The villains are interconnected, making the overarching story feel like one big picture, but the threads between episodes are weak, causing the story to be forgotten. The show frequently has brilliant ideas but doesn't fully explain or develop them.
Loose Ends
The show seems to establish many things that end up feeling like loose ends, but it does come together to create a holistic collage. Ogremon's rivalry with Tai is prematurely ended, but later, Tai encounters Rebellimon, the evolved form of Ogremon, creating a nice resolution. Devi-mon 2 becomes a cool character after the Devi-mon arc, and the side characters' vignettes become fun recurring side plots. However, the show sets up things that don't pay off, such as alluding to Sora and Koshiro's family lives.
Digimon
The show features characters and elements from various Digimon media, creating a digital world inspired by all the others. The Digimon are more wild and savage than ever before, constantly trying to eat the kids and their Digimon. The real villain is the intense competition and violent nature of the world. Many episodes in the later half of the show involve the kids helping Digimon displaced from their homes or terrorized by stronger Digimon.
Physicality
The show pays attention to the Digimon's physicality, emphasizing that they are weird-looking dinosaurs and creatures. Metal Greymon's debut is a highlight, with the Digimon biting Metal Tyranimon. The Digimon sizes and shapes are diverse, and even some of the more edgy Digimon look cool. The show gives surprise evolutions, but they are often spoiled in the previews.
Characters
While the characters are not as developed as their original counterparts, the show does a good job of creating caricatures and giving the kids their own things to do. Mimi is always promoting workers' rights and organizing Digimon in companies. The speaker highlights some favorite episodes, including those featuring Yamato, Mimi, and Takeru.
Conclusion
The speaker appreciates what this version of Digimon was in terms of its story but wishes it had explored the characters as human beings more. The final fight with Omnimon is well-animated, but it lacks the emotional weight of the original series. The ending leaves the world open for more, and the speaker would like to see Digimon expand its story within the same continuity, introducing new characters while keeping the ones we know. Overall, the speaker enjoyed watching the Digimon Adventure reboot and was excited to spend more time with these characters.
